In general, a display panel, which is a device for displaying an image, includes a thin film transistor (TFT) substrate, a color filter substrate, and a liquid crystal layer disposed therebetween.
In the display panel configured as described above, the polymer liquid crystal layer blocks or transmits light emitted from the TFT substrate, and the light is colored through the color filter substrate, whereby an image is displayed.
Meanwhile, display panels are manufactured in standardized sizes. In the case in which a non-standardized display panel is to be used, therefore, a standardized display panel is cut.
A conventional method of cutting a display panel is disclosed in Korean Registered Patent No. 10-0671215 (published on Jan. 18, 2007) entitled FLAT DISPLAY PANEL AND METHOD OF CUTTING THE SAME.
The conventional flat display panel includes two fragile substrates bonded to each other using a seal excluding openings formed therein, the two fragile substrates and the seal defining a closed space. One of the two fragile substrates has a scribed surface, which constitutes the outer surface of the closed space. The scribed surface of one of the fragile substrates is opposite a non-scribed surface of the other fragile substrate, and a terminal unit is located at the scribed surface of one of the fragile substrates. In the conventional method of cutting the flat display panel, the scribed surface of one of the fragile substrates is cut first.
In the conventional flat display panel, the lower fragile substrate is cut with a margin in the direction in which the lower fragile substrate is bent. As a result, the upper and lower fragile substrates are cut so as to have the same length.
When the conventional flat display panel is cut, however, conductive foreign matter separated from circuits printed on the fragile substrates become attached to a circuit substrate, whereby noise is generated due to a short circuit, and thus the defect rate of the display panel is high.
In addition, it is difficult to restore display panels from which noise is generated, and all such display panels must therefore be discarded.